


Swimming Lessons

by arda_ancalima



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends: Last of The Jedi Series - Jude Watson
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-11
Updated: 2019-05-11
Packaged: 2020-02-29 20:18:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18785476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arda_ancalima/pseuds/arda_ancalima
Summary: A swim with Trever reminds Ferus of one with Siri, and his longing for connection.





	Swimming Lessons

**Author's Note:**

> For the prompt “Ferus Olin – By the water” on [tumblr](https://arda-ancalima.tumblr.com/post/182359869138/send-me-characters-and-a-letter-and-ill-write).

Ferus laughed as he surfaced in the lake and shook his hair out of his face. “Come on in Trever, the water is fine!”

“You know what, I think I’ll pass. It’s kind of cold. Aren’t you cold?”

“You don’t need to worry about that,” Ferus said. “The Force can help one adapt to changes in temperature. Plus, once I toss you in, you’ll get used to it quickly.”

“All right! I’m coming, I’m coming.”

“We’ll get you used to swimming in no time. Now that, you know, you can practice without your life being at stake. Here, let’s start out with just floating on your back.”

 

_It was an afternoon of Padawans helping with the younglings. It gave them experience mentoring and gave the guardians of the younglings a chance to get other work done or have time to themselves. Ferus and several of his old classmates were by the lake in the Room of a Thousand Fountains swimming or playing with the children. He was helping a little Tholothian girl who was apprehensive about swimming to get comfortable floating in the shallows of the lake._

_“Breathe in deeply and you’ll feel your body float up. The Force is in the water, and it will help you. I’ll be right here.”_

_“Are you still holding me?”_

_Ferus smiled. “No, you’re floating by yourself.”_

_The little girl’s timidity turned to excitement as she stood back up and ran out of the water babbling about what she did. Not to Ferus, but to Darra, who was nearby and seemed to already have a connection with the child as she scooped her up and chatted back._

_It shouldn’t have mattered to him. He was doing what he was asked to do, and it wasn’t as if he needed to connect with a potential student any time soon. But there was still a small ache to be wanted and have the ease with others that his fellow Padawans seemed to have._

_At that moment, Ali-Alann came to collect the children, so they went over to him while the Padawans began to wander off. Ferus started to get out of the lake and was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he almost didn’t notice Siri approaching him._

_“I was just going to go for a swim. Care to join me?”_

_Ferus nodded and slid back into the water._

_“I suppose you’ve been in the shallows this whole time,” Siri said as she stepped in. “Let’s go out into deeper water.”_

_After being in a depth that even the younglings could stand in, it felt good to make long strokes and push off into the deep. Once they were a distance from shore, Siri stopped to tread water._

_“I could hear you thinking from a mile away,” she teased. “What’s on your mind?”_

_Ferus hesitated. “I…I’m just not very good at working with children.”_

_“From what I saw, you were doing fine.” Siri looked at him curiously._

_“The others seem to have already made connections with them.”_

_“Aha,” Siri said. “That’s a train of thought that will lead you nowhere useful. ‘Comparing leads to despairing.’”_

_“But shouldn’t I recognize my weaknesses?”_

_Siri gazed toward the waterfall thoughtfully. “Yes, but how you do matters. Comparing your journey to someone else’s doesn’t give you an accurate perspective. We all have our own weaknesses to work on and strengths to use, but they vary for everyone. There are as many different paths to becoming a Jedi as there are…well, Jedi.”_

_“As for making connections,” Siri continued, “I can only recommend patience and persistence. If you’re trying but they don’t happen now, that’s okay. It doesn’t mean they never will. It took me a long time to make friends as a Padawan, and I’m only starting to rebuild friendships now that I’m back at the Temple. You’re doing fine, and when the time is right, you will have people to connect to and will make a fine Master to some lucky apprentice.”_

_“That seems a long way off.”_

_“Trust me, you’ll get there.” Siri grinned. “I look forward to meeting my grand-Padawan.”_

 

“Umm anyone home? Earth to Ferus! I’m sinking here!”

Ferus’s young friend, though certainly not his apprentice, pulled him out of his memories. “You’re doing fine Trever, just take a deep breath and feel the—”

“If you tell me to use the Force, I’ll dunk you.”


End file.
